DC

Category archives for DC

Cell Division IV Michele Banks DC area artist Michele Banks has donated one of her cell division watercolors to raise funds for art outreach. Check out the online auction – the painting is matted and framed and currently going for only $52. Michele is not a biologist, but she’s been on a sci-art kick for…

On Wednesday, I gave a breakout session talk on science policy jobs at MIT. I love talking about science policy, so it’s not too hard to get me to do it – it’s harder to get me to stop – and we had a great group of Boston-area grad students who asked excellent questions. Very…

David Clarke, president of the DC chapter of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators (a great group that I considered joining once, long ago and several careers away), just passed along an invitation to an event next week. The artists who created the work in the Smithsonian’s NMNH Hall of Human Origins will be talking…

From a post by Erin Fitzgerald, a DoD Science Policy Fellow who consulted on the design of Mattel’s new “Computer Engineer Barbie:” It might seem silly to get excited about a new Barbie doll. But, to me, she will help reinforce in math-loving little girls that they, like Barbie, can grow up to be computer…

One of the DC bands I like, Honor By August, has a new cd out– and the cover (the e-cover at least, I haven’t seen a hard copy) plays with biomedical imagery. Sweet – love the little bird! I’d totally take that on a T-shirt and wear it.

This is kind of cool: For the second year in a row, AAAS [the American Association for the Advancement of Science] will be arranging hands-on science activities for children attending the White House Easter Egg Roll. AAAS was invited by the Office of Science and Technology Policy to help infuse science into the event on…

Good idea: the National Zoo is letting us name its Giant Pacific octopus. Bad idea: the names. All four are terrible: Olympus: This octopus arrived at the Zoo just before the 2010 Winter Olympics, and for many zoogoers the octopus gets a gold medal for being a compelling animal. Ceph: Octopuses belong to the fascinating…

Doesn’t that title sound weird – like an experimental film? It may help to know that House of Sweden is Sweden’s embassy in Washington, DC – a lovely glass building on the Potomac. If you’re in the DC area, you should get on their mailing list, because they host interesting science-related panel discussions and receptions.…

Oh noes! Chris Mooney just used the phrase “scientific consensus on global warming” in a WaPo article on Climategate: While the controversy has receded, it may have done lasting damage to science’s reputation: Last month, a Washington Post-ABC News poll found that 40 percent of Americans distrust what scientists say about the environment, a considerable…

Many of the commenters on my earlier post about the so-called wisdom of crowds, “Science is not a democracy,” have expressed distaste for the phrase “scientific consensus.” I don’t really share that distaste, and here’s why. To me, it’s like being disturbed by the phrase “electoral college.” You may detest the way our nation’s electoral…